Shuman Places Third at Princeton Invitational

PRINCEON, N.J. – This
weekend the Crimson traveled to its third spring tournament which
took place in the idyllic country setting of Princeton, New Jersey.
During the practice round and getting to know
Princeton’s home Springdale golf course, the Crimson realized
the course had some familiar design
characteristics. Springdale was designed by architect, William
S. Flynn, who also crafted Harvard’s home course in
Brookline. This added a sense of familiarity to the
tournament.

However, the
pleasant weather the team enjoyed in practice soon became a distant
memory as Saturday greeted the team with steady rain, gusting
winds, and finger-numbing cold -- brutal spring conditions even by
New England standards. Following two weather delays, the
anticipated 36-hole Saturday marathon became an 18-hole mud slog.
Greg Shuman, unfazed by the
mid-round stops, severe winds, and mud-soaked course posted a
pristine one-under 70 that was good for the first-day individual
lead. Mike Shore, struggling with his putting all day, managed
to hold his round together in the wind. He came up with a
unique solution to his problems by keeping the putter in the bag
and holing out for eagle on the finishing par-4 18th to post 75.
Tony Grillo shot 78, and Danny
Mayer shot 81 to complete the team’s scores. John Christensen shot 82. The
team’s score of 304 was good for a respectable 4th place
result behind Rutgers, Columbia, and Princeton after day one.

Sunday
brought more sun, but increased wind replaced Saturday’s
gloomy rain. With similarly difficult conditions, Harvard
struggled to create any positive momentum and dropped back to 8th
out of 14 teams. Greg Shuman shot
77, which, combined with his great performance Saturday, was good
for a commendable 3rd place individual finish in a large and
talented field. John Christensen
shot 76, Danny Mayer shot 78, and
Mike Shore shot 84 to complete the team score of 315. Tony Grillo
also shot 86.

The Princeton
Invitational was a good tune-up to the Ivy League Championship as
it provided the Crimson with an opportunity to compete against six
Ivy League schools. While the team was disappointed with their
performance in only beating one of their Ivy competitors, they
believe the tournament showed areas that can easily be improved
upon. The team looks forward to contending with many of the
Ivy teams at Caves Valley next week in the final tournament before
the Ivy Championship.